Color show starting

White ash usually get the color season kicked off.  Several have already been showing spectacular purple.

By late September many young birches can't decide between green or yellow in the canopy and white or brown on the trunk.

Ash marching up hill

The split white ash is about 250 feet closer to home.  The march up the hill has gone well so far.  The rest of the way will be assisted by a wheelbarrow after facing more of the slope closer to the house.  Here's an updated pic from today after all split pieces were added to the staging spot.

Another wind storm

Just a few minutes of wicked wind brought down more future firewood.  The biggest loss to the forest was a magnificent white ash.  The tree has been pictured on the blog before.  After losing a major branch a few years ago, a large scar developed, an area where the tree lost lots of support against west winds that dominate the hill during storms.  Here's a picture of the tree showing the upside down V broken trees become.

Many young trees, mainly paper birch, are part of the understory in this area of large ash.  Even though several babies were crushed by the ash, others will benefit greatly from the expansion of sun on their crowns.  The ash's crown blocked out lots of light.

Cutting the ash was a major project, but 22 pieces are now at 22 inches near the cutting site.  Note the spectacular diamond-shaped ridges in the mature tree's bark, one of several features making white ash a divine species.  The broken tree was about 15 inches in diameter at the ground.

Birds of prey

From the early morning calls of barred owls, to silent visits by the pictured beauty below, birds of prey love Hardwood Hermitage.

Solar expansion

Solar power is doing more since June 30, the first full day when 15 additional panels started producing.  With two full months in since then, the new panels, the bottom row in the pic below, are performing well.

July provided much more sunlight than August.  Even with both months having the same number of days, July's production was 278 kilowatt/hours more than August.  Combined, the panels produced nearly 2,900 kw/hrs in those great 62 days.

There was still some nice sun in August.  The garden shared with a neighbor responded well to the warmth.  Some amazing colors were created in August, even though the relatively cloudier days meant blackberry season wasn't the best.  Here's a pic of a recent harvest.  Yes, you can grow sweet potatoes in a cooler climate!